Getting Started

To get started with Racket,
download it from the web page and
install it. If you are a beginner or would like to use a graphical environment
to run programs, run the DrRacket executable. Otherwise, the racket
executable will run a command-line Read-Eval-Print-Loop
(REPL).

On Windows, you can start DrRacket from the Racket entry in the
Start menu. In Windows Vista or newer, you can just type DrRacket. You can
also run it from its folder, which you can find in Program Files →
Racket → DrRacket.

On Mac OS, double click on the DrRacket icon. It is probably in a
Racket folder that you dragged into your
Applications folder. If you want to use command-line tools, instead,
Racket executables are in the "bin" directory of the Racket
folder (and if you want to set your PATH environment variable, you’ll
need to do that manually).

On Unix (including Linux), the drracket executable can be run directly from the
command-line if it is in your path, which is probably the case if you chose a
Unix-style distribution when installing. Otherwise, navigate to the directory
where the Racket distribution is installed, and the drracket executable will be
in the "bin" subdirectory.

If you are new to programming or if you have the patience to work
through a textbook:

The Racket Guide describes
the rest of the Racket language, which is much bigger than
the learning-oriented languages of the textbook. Since you
learned functional programming from the textbook, you’ll be
able to skim chapters 1 and 2 of the Guide.